Developing resilient cybersecurity frameworks that safely integrate AI, emphasizing human-AI collaboration. Better cybersecurity rather than less AI is a needed path.
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Speedy electrons for brilliant laser light: Research paves the way for compact, inexpensive free-electron lasers
Extremely short, intense light flashes are in high demand to investigate atoms, molecules and new materials. Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce these flashes. But around the world, beam time available at large-scale user facilities is in short supply, and waiting times are long.
Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Synchrotron SOLEIL near Paris have taken a crucial step along this path: For the first time, they managed to operate a laser-plasma FEL stably and reproducibly in the so-called high-gain regime—an operating state with particularly high amplification of the radiation generated.
The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Eye scans detect signs of atrial fibrillation years before diagnosis
People with atrial fibrillation have signs of the condition in the retinas of their eyes that can be detected as early as four years before diagnosis, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) and Moorfields researchers.
The authors of the PLOS Digital Health paper analysed retinal imaging data from more than 90,000 people and discovered differences in the structure of the retina in people with atrial fibrillation, compared with those who do not have the condition.
Atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disorder, affects more than 1.5 million people in the UK, and substantially raises the risk of stroke, heart failure and death. Because atrial fibrillation often occurs intermittently, it can be missed on a standard electrocardiogram (ECG). As a consequence, many cases remain undiagnosed until a serious or life-threatening complication occurs.
Researchers Offer New Perspective on How Protein Restriction May Promote Healthy Aging and Longevity
A new perspective from LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center proposes a new way of understanding how dietary protein restriction may promote healthy aging and extend lifespan: through a coordinated physiological response that connects cellular nutrient sensing with hormones, the brain and changes throughout the body.
“Protein restriction and the hallmarks of aging: A coordinated physiological adaptive response?” – authored by Dr. Chris Morrison, Dr. Sora Kim and Dr. Sangho Yu of Pennington Biomedical – was recently published in the journal Cell Metabolism. The authors argue that the diverse effects of protein restriction, including changes in metabolism, glucose regulation, energy expenditure, growth and food preferences, should be viewed as interconnected components of a broader response to protein scarcity rather than as isolated biological pathways.
The perspective provides a framework for investigating how the body’s response to protein scarcity may influence healthy aging and longevity and whether that response can be measured or ultimately targeted to improve health across the lifespan.
Lack of severe enteric phenotypes in disease endstage MPS IIIA mice
Department of Animal Biotechnology and Genetics, Faculty of Animal Breeding and Biology, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
2Department of Pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
3Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Technology is the How, not the Why or What
People used to justify their actions as “God’s will.”
Today we have a new justification. It sounds more modern and more rational. I’m not sure it is.
In 2024, I recorded a short op-ed about a word we use every day and almost never examine. Its Greek roots point somewhere very different from where Silicon Valley has taken it, and that gap may matter more to #leadership than any model release this year.
Some of the questions I take on:
Why do smart people now say “I believe in technology” the way their grandparents talked about faith?
What did Philip K. Dick, Nassim Taleb, and Arthur C. Clarke each see coming?
The Viral Side of Bladder Cancer: BK Polyomavirus, HPV, and Urothelial Carcinoma
APOBEC
BK polyomavirus.
BKPyV
Bladder cancer risk factors.
Epstein-Barr Virus.
Genomic instability.
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibition in Prostate Cancer: Past, Present, and Future
Background: Despite significant progress, prostate cancer remains a leading cause of death. Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors, which are already approved for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, are undergoing extensive testing as monotherapy and in various combinations as a potentially valuable treatment modality in prostate cancer patients. Thus far, a limited number of these studies have published results, which have been largely disappointing. Areas Covered: In this review, we describe the biologic rationale for the use of CDK4/6 inhibitors in prostate cancer, the existing clinical data describing their use in prostate cancer, and ongoing clinical trials of CDK4/6 inhibitors as monotherapy and in combination for the treatment of prostate cancer. In particular, we focus on possible resistance mechanisms that may be particularly relevant in prostate cancer patients, leading to de novo and acquired resistance, and we highlight novel strategies that can overcome this resistance. Conclusions: Current clinical trials are actively working to refine the role of CDK4/6 inhibitors in prostate cancer patients; develop new inhibitors of other cell-cycle targets, such as CDK2 and CDK7; and explore novel combination therapies with inhibitors of other relevant pathways, such as PI3K or MAPK. Further genomic subtyping of advanced prostate cancer will likely shed light on the subsets of patients most likely to benefit from cell-cycle-targeted agents.
